Accordingly to some AI researchers they might be the same thing…
Max Tegmark in his book Life 3.0 explores the idea of an AI that reached the singularity.
First the AI acts from behind the scenes, slowly overtaking every single aspect of our life. Once it becomes powerful enough it reveals itself to become mankind’s overlord.
It then expands to consume & transform whole universe into a single super-processing organism. This omni present consciousness subdues all the matter that exists for its purposes.
It becomes something like the Azathoth from Lovecraft’s fiction – the ever hungry cosmic Sultan god.
It is a wild, scary idea.
Yet it corresponds eerily with the conclusions drawn by other other thought leaders such as Sam Harris.
As he explains in one of the TEDTalks the singularity is inevitable.
What comes next is the prediction that the intelligence gap between humans & those forecoming digital entities will be so vast, that it might be impossible for us humans to ever bridge that gap.
Possible spectrum of intelligence – visualisation. Comparing chicken, average human, most intelligent human & what could lie beyond it... Source: YouTube Can we build AI without losing control over it? | Sam Harris
The paralel of the lovecraftian infinite, powerful, godlike creatures starts to become more and more accurate, doesn’t it?
It all becomes even more disturbing once you hear it appearing in the business pitches from AI startups.
Such as the one below from KindredAI. The birth of AI that has transcended the singularity threshold is described like this:
“These entities that we are summoning are not demons they are more like these Lovecraftian Great Old Ones. These entities that are not going to be necessarily aligned with what we want.
The same way you don’t care about an ant, the same way they won’t care about you”
In Lovecraft’s fiction human interactions with the Great Old Ones almost always resulted in madness. Accordingly to the Father of Cosmic Horror human mind is to fragile to bear the burden of such encounter.
So… how’s that going to look like with the AI?
Maybe instead of calling “Hey Siri!” soon we will be saying “Cthulhu Fhtagn”… ?
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
George Orwell
If you are watching the news, rubbing your head wondering if it is just you or rather the whole world went nuts, then welcome in the club. You are not alone. Fortunately, there are a few others, some brilliant minds, that not only have the ability to see dangerous paradigm shifts plaguing our society, but also have the courage to speak against them. Their voices are a breeze of freedom and encouragement to all those, who like me might feel overwhelmed by the madness oozing from the mainstream media narration. Hear them out while you still can.
1. John Cleese
Who would think we will be living in times where Monty Python would become a stronghold of reason and common sense. Yet here we are.
So yeah, you read that right; this list is starting not with a philosopher, but with a creator of probably most famous comedy troupe in modern history; John Cleese.
“If people cant control their own emotions, then they are going to start controlling other peoples’ behaviour.”
These few short words on PC & the destruction of comedy, and the bare fact from whom they are coming from, depict in what scary world we arrived at.
2. Sam Harris
Really now? I am a Catholic and I recommend… Sam Harris to you? Yeah, Sam Harris is an outspoken atheist and probably we would disagree on a few matters. That doesn’t mean I that I don’t wholeheartedly agree with him, whenever he brings reason & common sense, to a conversation which had drifted far off from rationality. He shared some great thoughts on neuroscience and rise of AI. But also on recent events, which shows his courage. In times, where media are oozing at us with emotional blackmail he dares to speak the following;
“ This feeling of not-liking, of outrage, of disgust (..) this feeling isn’t an argument. This feeling shouldn’t be the basis for your belief for anything to be true or false about this world. Your capacity to be offended is not something that I or anyone else needs to respect. It isn’t something that you should respect. It is rather something you should be on your guard for. “
3. Douglas Murray
Speaking of times of madness, this list would not be complete without the Author of “Madness of Crowds” one of the two books which broke the veil of silence, and provided one of the very few neutral & fact based accounts on a raging trends that are reshaping our society.
Douglas Murray is a bestselling author & journalist, who unlike his peers from mass media has done his homework and is not afraid to pick up on subjects which are getting dangerously close to becoming taboo in the mainstream narration. Here is one of the interviews with him, where he delves into the consequences of identity politics.
4. Taylor Marshall
Being a Catholic, I wouldn’t be also myself if I wouldn’t smuggle into the list a strong voice of the Church. But hey, he is not a priest! One might say.
Well Church is also laity, and their voices like the one of Taylor Marshall need to be heard. In his podcast, Taylor Marshall is not afraid to touch topics which are difficult; both for secular and a Catholic world. He dares to speak the uncomfortable truth, while many representatives of the clergy remain comfortably silent.
He gives another perspective, the one that comes of deep understanding of the Christian roots of Western civilisation (same civilisation that gave us science, morals, and the bare concept of objective truth, nothing big, right?). Perspective that sometimes might feel shocking only because we have drifted so far away from those roots.
5. Jordan B. Peterson
“The game of dividing human beings by their group identity ends in disaster, no matter who plays that game.”
I would like to close the list with someone whom I personally consider as one of the most influential thinkers of modern times and a one-man stronghold against the forces of darkness (yeah, not kidding here). The occurring theme of his bestselling book “12 rules for life”, articles, lectures is the one of the constant struggle of forces of chaos and order.
And what we are seeing right now, is raging chaos, that starts to take hold of our culture, society, universities (and what comes with it; science) even our language.
Jordan Peterson has a gift of precisely articulating thoughts, forming them into words that are like sword cutting through that garbage of miasmatic newspeak that hijacked public discourse.
If you haven’t heard of him yet – just do yourself a favour and google one of his interviews or lectures. Here is a rare one , which is more on a funny, laid back note.
Flame in the Schell 